1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electricity generation device and an electricity collection system, and more particularly, to an electricity generation device for generating electricity using an animal as a source of power and an electricity collection system for collecting the electricity generated by the electricity generation device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, electricity generation devices using natural energies have received a greater deal of interest as a means for reducing CO2 output. A photovoltaic power generation device, a wind power generation device, a geothermal power generation device, a tidal power generation device, and the like have been known as electricity generation devices using natural energies. Many of them require a relatively large-scale device. On the other hand, there has been an interest in electricity generation devices that implement an electricity generation method called environmental energy harvesting or power harvesting using an environmentally existing energy such as a vibration or waste heat generated by a human's motion or a vehicle's movement. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-166694 proposes an electricity generation device for generating electricity by driving a piezoelectric element using sound vibration energy.
As an environmentally existing energy, energy generated by a motion of an animal, particularly a domestic animal, could be usable. Conventionally, however, there have only been proposed devices using a domestic animal only as a power source by, for example, attaching a mechanism for rotating a rotating shaft of a generator to a domestic animal and forcing it to walk in order to rotate the rotating shaft (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-232127).
An electricity generation device as proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-232127 forces a specific individual into a specific action to achieve a certain objective, like causing a cow or a horse to plow a field or draw a cart, instead of utilizing the natural motion of a domestic animal. In such a method of causing a specific individual to make a specific motion, it is impossible to utilize kinetic energy generated by, for example, a spontaneous (natural) act such as feeding behavior of a cow grazing on a farm.